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Feenstra, B.H. 1972. Quaternary geology of the Niagara area, ; Ontario Division of Mines, Preliminary Map P.764, scale 1:50 000.

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TILL LOCATION TEXTURE CARBONATES TRACE ELEMENTS PEBBLE LITHOLOGY -0.037mm fraction DESCRIPTION -2mm fraction -0.074mm fraction 8-32mm fraction percent ppm percent

Calcite and Dolomite ONTARIO total percent ratio an d DIVISION OF MINES analyse s analyse s analyse s analyse s Igneou s Limeston e Doloston e Shal e San d Sil t Cla y Siltston e Sandston e Metamorphi c

No . No . Cu Zn Cr Ni No . No . I Grey silt till L. Ontario bluff 13 18 58 24 13 15.8 1.2 7 53 87 68 42 6 19 19 5 HONOURABLE LEO BERNIER, Minister of Natural Resources 11.5-41 11-28 48-73 12-40 14.2-16.7 0.7-1.7 36-75 69-107 51-81 36-46 57 13-28 3-7 W. Q. MACNEE, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources 35-67.5 14 84 6.5 1.5 Red sandy-silty L. Ontario bluff 2 35.5 54.5 10 2 14.5 1.0 2 42. 5 72.5 55 33.5 2 Division of Mines E.G.Pye, Director, Geological Branch till 34-37 52-57 9-11 13.2-15.8 0.8-1.3 42-43 71-74 32-35 12-15.5 82-86.5 1-12 Brown, grey silt West of 5 16 48 34 5 14.0 1.4 5 39 81 76 43 2 9.5 51.5 34.5 4.5 till 46-55 12.6-14.5 1.0-2.3 36-44 78-84 74-80 40-44 9-10 30-73 13-56 4-5 PRELIMINARY MAP P. 764 St. Catharines 10-20 25-44 GEOLOGICAL SERIES Grey lower silt Vinemount Mor. 4 21.5 53.5 25 4 16.0 0.9 2 43 79 69 43 1 22 5l.5 24 2.5 till Vineland Quarries 15-31 47-58 18-32 15.2-17.4 0.8-1.1 41-45 78-80 65-73 40-46 QUATERNARY GEOLOGY OF THE Brown silty clay St. Catharines 2 1.5 31.5 67 2 19.9 1.8 2 43 79 69 43 1 22 51.5 24 2.5 till 19.5-21.2 1.3-2.2 41-45 78-80 65-73 40-46 NIAGARA AREA Brown upper silt Vinemount Mor. 1 22 58 20 1 15.2 1.5 1 50 84 70 42 1 27 43 27 4 till Vineland Quarries SOUTHERN ONTARIO

Brown silt till Southeast 2 22 54 24 2 18.3 1.7 1 50 93 64 38 1 9 53 16.5 18 3.5 Scale 1:50,000 below, within map Vinemount Mor. 19-25 15.3-21.2 unit 3a 51-57 1.25 inches to 1 mile approximately NTS Reference: 30 M/6E, 30 M/3W, 30 M/3E Grey, red, brown Twelve Mile Creek 4 27 52 17 4 19.6 2.0 1 50 93 64 38 1 9 53 16.5 18 3.5 silt till re-entrant 17-33 43-64 15-19 19.1-20.7 1.6-2.6 ©ODM 1972 Brown silt till Fonthill area 3 24 50 24 3 14.7 1.5 1 50 93 64 38 1 28.5 48.5 5 13 5 48-51 23-25 20-27 13-15.8 1.1-2.2 Parts of this publication may be quoted if credit is given to the Ontario Upper brown-reddish Canal By-Pass 6 12 65 23 6 20.6 0.9 3 41 79 65 41 3 29 62 4 3 2 Division of Mines and the material is properly referenced. brown silt till at Syphon, south of 4.5-23.5 53-74 17-26 16.8-25.6 C.6-1.3 34-47 74-86 63-68 40-42 15-44 50-73 2-5 2-4 1-4 Port Robinson LEGEND

PARTIAL RESULTS OF TILL ANALYSES NIAGARA AREA CENOZOIC QUATERNARY (average and range of values) Recent

Cultural features. Predominantly fill

6b beach and bar deposits. Stratified gravel and sand 6a Stream and pond deposits. Stratified gravel, sand, silt, and clay, with organic matter

Pleistocene Late

5c Lake Iroquois beach and bar deposits. Stratified gravel and sand Sb Lake Iroquois stratified sands. Predominantly silty fine sand 5a Lake Iroquois stratified clay, sand, and silt

Stream or pond deposits. Stratified fine sand with some silt and clay

3c and younger pre-Irquois beach and bar deposits. Stratified gravel and sand 3b Lake Warren and younger pre-Iroquois stratified silty very fine to gravelly sands 3a Lake Warren and younger pre-Iroquois stratified clay, silt, and sand

Halton Till. Silt to clay till.

PALEOZOIC SILURIAN

1 o Lockport Formation lcc Clinton and Cataract Groups

ORDOVICIAN

lqu Formation

Note: Generally only that part of a map unit with a thickness equal to or greater than 3 feet is outlined.

SYMBOLS

Geological boundary Glacial striations on (actual or interpreted). bedrock, direction of Ice movement known. Limit of geological mapping. Glacial striations with Small bedrock outcrop. trend varying between limiting arrows , includes Rock quarry, operating. crossing sets.

Sand and(or) gravel pit, Trend of moraine crest. operating. Shoreline of former glacial lake marked by scarp.

For other conventional symbols refer to 1:50,000 National Topographic Map Series.

MARGINAL NOTES

Geological mapping of the Niagara area was streams, for example Twenty Mile Creek (Jordan Harbour). initiated in 1969 and for the most part completed in The baymouth bar at Jordan Harbour is built; over but 1971 under the supervision of B.H. Feenstra. Competent bore holes penetrated a unit of sand and gravel over­ assistance in the field was given by D. Mailing and lying silts with organic matter resting on what is A. Lemay in the fall of 1969, by D. Allen, R. DiLabio, believed to be Halton Till. The area of the Twelve A. Cooper, B. Elliott, and E. Sado in the summer of Mile Creek re-entrant between De Cew Falls and Rockway 1970, and by A. Cooper, E. Fraser, and K. Blewett in south of the Lake Iroquois shoreline and a small area the summer of 1971. behind the Homer Bar east of the contain small shallow depressions filled with bog sediments. Field techniques included hand augering, the use A radiocarbon sample ( Sample, BGS58) of a sampling tube driven with a sledge hammer, and of wood more or less from the central part of such a the examination of natural and man-made exposures. sequence near Power Glen was dated at 5,214+60 years. Additional information was obtained from the published The cultural features (map unit 7) consist predomin­ literature, from examination of bore hole samples, and antly of rock and earth fill associated with ship from logs of bore holes and wells provided by several and power canal construction. Federal and Provincial Government agencies and private companies. Industrial Mineral Resources: Queenston shale exposed north of the Lake Iroquois shoreline east of St. Bedrock Geology: The Paleozoic geology of the area is Catharines, near St. Davids, is used for the manufac­ described and shown on maps by Caley (1940) and ture of brick (Guillet 1967). A similar resource area Sanford (1969); the Silurian formations of the Niagara exists between Vineland and the western margin of the in particular are described by Bolton (1957). area where a few Queenston shale exposures occur The area is underlain from north to south by the through a generally thin clay veneer (map unit 5a). (red shale mainly; map The Lockport Formation is quarried for building stone unit lqu) and the following Silurian groups and form­ near Queenston and primarily for aggregate at , ations: the Cataract and Clinton Groups (sandstone, St. Catharines, south of Vineland, and in an area of shale , and carbonate rocks; map unit lcc); the exposed bedrock knolls and thin drift cover to the Lockport Formation (dolostone mainly; map unit 1 o); west and southwest of Campden (Hewitt 1960; Vos 1969). the Guelph Formation (dolostone) and the Salina The main commercial sources of sand and gravel are Formation (dolostone, shale, gypsum) which do not limited to the ice margin deltaic, glacial stream, occur in outcrop in the area mapped. The area mapped glacial lake near-shore and beach deposits at Fonthill as bedrock along the face of the Niagara Escarpment and south of St. Davids (Hewitt and Karrow 1963). includes fine- and coarse-grained material, generally Other deposits of sand and gravel are small, thin, more than 3 feet thick, that developed as a result of silty, below thick "overburden", or built over. The mass wastage of bedrock and Quaternary drift. total reported mineral production in 1969 amounted to $5,376,971 (Statistical files, ODM). Bedrock Topography and Drift Thickness: Bedrock- surface topography and drift thickness maps of the Physiography. Soils, and Engineering Properties: A Niagara area are in preparation. Such maps and description of the landforms in the area is given by diagrams have been previously constructed by Sanford Chapman and Putnam (1966). The geological map units (1956), Hobson and Terasmae (1969), and Vos (1969) but may be compared with the soils classification and do not include the entire Niagara area. distribution as shown in Ontario Soil Survey Reports (Ontario Agricultural College 1935; Wicklund and Quaternary Geology: Glacial ice moved out of the Lake Matthews 1963). Engineering properties of till and Ontario basin to the southwest and south across the glacial lake sediments along the Welland Canal By- Niagara Escarpment area as is shown by numerous Pass south of Port Robinson are provided, among glacial erosional features. Mid-Wisconsin inter- others, by Owen (1969). stadial and older drift has been recognized between approximate depths of 100 and 290 feet below surface Selected References: in bore holes and exposures in the buried St. Davids gorge (Hobson and Terasmae 1969; Karrow and Terasmae Bedrock Geology: 1970). The silt to silty clay till (map unit 2) Caley, J.F. exposed at surface throughout much of the northern 1940: Palaeozoic geology of the Toronto- part of the Niagara area is believed to be a Hamilton area, Ontario; Geol. Surv. correlative of Karrow's (1963) Late Wisconsin Halton Canada, Mem.224, 284p. (reprinted 1961). Till. Lower, coarser grained tills found in exposures Accompanied by 2 maps. as well as indicated by bore holes in the St. Bolton, T.E. Catharines area and along the Welland Canal By-Pass could be correlatives of Karrow's (1963) Late 1957: Silurian stratigraphy and palaeontology Wisconsin Wentworth Till. The older limit of the of the Niagara Escarpment in Ontario; glacier depositing Halton Till is thought to be south Geol. Surv. Canada, Mem.289, 145p. of the Niagara area as an upper fine-grained silt to Accompanied by plates and charts. clay till, present between an upper (map unit 3a) and Sanford, B.V. a lower sequence of fine-grained glacial lake sedi­ 1969: Geology, Toronto-Windsor area, Ontario; ments; it can be traced consistently along the Welland Geol. Surv. Canada, Map 1263A, scale Canal By-Pass to the vicinity of Port Colborne. 1 inch to 3.95 miles. Several younger positions of this fluctuating ice Bedrock Topography and Drift Thickness: margin, possibly grounded as well as floating in Sanford, B.V. glacial lake waters, are present in the map-area. Two 1956: Two preliminary maps of Welland County, advances are recorded by stratified, very fine gravelly Ontario, showing drift-thickness and silty clay units intercalated between glacial lake bedrock contours; Geol. Surv. Canada, clay, silt, and fine sand, with few clasts, in the Paper 55-20. Maps 55-20A and 55-20B, Twelve Mile Creek re-entrant. The two stratified scale 1 inch to 2 miles. gravelly silty clay units can be traced northward to Hobson, George D., and Terasmae, J. the massive silty clay till in the St. Catharines area. 1969: Pleistocene geology of the buried The earlier advance may be correlated with the forma­ St. Davids gorge, , Ontario; tion of an ice margin delta in Lake Warren (now Geophysical and Palynological studies; covered by a veneer of glacial lake deposits) at Geol. Surv. Canada, Paper 68-67, 16p. Fonthill. The later advance may be correlated with a Engineering Geology: grounded ice margin forming the Vinemount Moraine to Owen, E.B. the west at the top of the Niagara Escarpment. 1969: Stratigraphy and engineering descrip­ Correlation between the ice marginal positions in the tion of the soils exposed on a section west half with those possibly present in the east half of the Welland Canal By-Pass project at the Niagara Falls Moraine and between Stamford and (Contract 743), Ontario, Canada; Geol. Virgil is difficult. The area in between is covered Surv. Canada, Paper 69-31, 22p. extensively with deep-water glacial lake sediments Accompanied by chart. (map unit 3a) below or in which such positions have Industrial Mineral Resources: not been recognized. The ice margin may have been Guillet, G.R. strongly lobate and floating. Bore holes along the 1967: The clay products industry of Ontario; Niagara Falls Moraine indicate a rise in the bedrock Ontario Dept. Mines, IMR22, 206p. surface as well as an increase in drift thickness. At Accompanied by 2 maps. least the upper part of the drift consists of glacial Hewitt, D.F. lake sediments (map units 3a, 3b). Bore holes north 1960: The industries of Ontario; of St. Davids show the presence of a silt to clay till Ontario Dept. Mines, IMR5, 177p. believed to be Halton Till separated southward into Accompanied by 2 maps and several two till units intercalated between and apparently sections. Updated in Ontario Dept. terminating farther south in fine-grained glacial Mines, IMR13, 1964, 77p. Accompanied lake sediments (map unit 3a). The upper till layer is by 1 map. exposed at surface south of Virgil (map unit 2). Hewitt, D.F., and Cowan, W.R. 1969: Sand and gravel in southern Ontario; Ontario Dept. Mines, IMR29, 105p. The Niagara area is for the most part covered Accompanied by 1 map. with deeper and shallower water glacial lake sediments Hewitt, D.F., and Karrow, P.F. (map units 3a, 3b, 5a, 5b). The presence of former 1963: Sand and gravel in southern Ontario; lake levels (Warren to Iroquois) is recorded by Ontario Dept. Mines, IMR11, 151p. beaches and bars (map units 3c, 5c), terraces and Accompanied by 5 maps. scarps. The multiple beach ridges between 825 and 850 Vos, M.A. feet as well as a wave-cut scarp, with a lower eleva­ 1969: Stone resources of the Niagara tion of 810 feet, and a terrace between 790 and 810 Escarpment; Ontario Dept. Mines, IMR31, feet on top of the delta at Fonthill are features of 68p. Accompanied by 5 maps and 1 chart. Lake Warren (II, III?). The Lake Dana level is Reprinted 1972, with some specifications recorded by very short beach ridges, a spit, and revised. terraces found at elevations near 650 feet in the Pedology: vicinity of Fonthill, on the distal slope of the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, and Dominion Vinemount Moraine south of Beamsville, and at a pit on Department of Agriculture, Ottawa top of the Niagara Escarpment south of St. Davids. 1935: Soil survey map of Welland County; Shore features of Lake Dana should also be present Ontario Soil Survey Rept. No.5, scale along the Niagara Falls Moraine and in the area north 1 inch to 2 miles. towards Stamford. An erosional scarp below the spit Wicklund, R.E., and Matthews, B.C. near Fonthill as well as short ridges south of the Vinemount Moraine in the vicinity of Campden, and 1963: The soil survey of Lincoln County; east of Welland are found at lower elevations (610 to Ontario Soil Survey Rept. No.34, Guelph, 620 feet) and may represent a lower lake level or Ontario, 48p. Accompanied by 1 map, shallow water features in Lake Dana. Lake levels scale 1 inch to 1 mile. intermediate between Warren and Dana are recorded at Physiography: the Fonthill delta by the base of a scarp between 730 Chapman, L. J. , and Putnam, D. F. and 750 feet, and by a short beach ridge at 690 feet 1966: The physiography of southern Ontario; at the village limits. The latter level is also University of Toronto Press, 2nd Ed., recorded at Lundy's Lane at a slightly lower elevation 386p. Accompanied by 1 map. (Chapman and Putnam 1966). Shallow-water sands (map Quaternary Geology: unit 3b) in the re-entrant at Twelve Mile Creek and at Calkin, P.E. St. Davids are possibly derived from adjacent higher 1970: Strand lines and chronology of the source areas to the south by run-off into a lake(s) glacial in northwestern with a much lower elevation but higher than that of ; Ohio J. Sci., Vol.70, p.79-96. Lake Iroquois. The shoreline of Lake Iroquois is Coleman, A.P. mainly an erosional bluff. The Homer Bar (Coleman 1936: Lake Iroquois; Ontario Dept. Mines, 1936) with an elevation at top of 372 feet and small, Vol.45, pt.7, p.1-36 (published 1937). thin accumulations of sand and gravel, at approximately Accompanied by 1 map. 10 feet lower elevations along the shoreline, form its Karrow, P.F. beach deposits (map unit 5c). Various small ridges 1963: Pleistocene geology of the Hamilton- of sand and gravel below the shoreline are probably Gait area; Ontario Dept. Mines, GR16, off-shore bars (map unit 5c). 68p. Accompanied by 4 maps. Karrow, P.F. , and Terasmae, J. 1970: Pollen-bearing sediments of the St. Recent sediments mapped in the area are divided Davids buried valley fill at the into stream and pond deposits (map unit 6a) and Lake Whirlpool, gorge, Ontario; Ontario deposits (map unit 6b). Rising of the water Canadian J. Earth Sci., Vol.7, pt.2, level in Lake Ontario caused flooding and the constru­ p.539-542. ction of baymouth bars ponding at the mouths of several

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Geology by B.H. Feenstra and assistants, 1969, 1970, 1971. Topography from Map 30 M/3 and Map 30 M/6 of the National Topographic Series. Aerial Photography: Ontario Department of Lands and Forests. Issued 1972.

Parts of this publication may be quoted if credit is given to the Ontario Division of Mines. It is recommended that reference to this map be made in the following form:

Feenstra, B.H. 1972: Quaternary geology of the Niagara area, southern Ontario; Ontario Div. Mines, Prelim. Map P.764, Geol. Ser., scale 1:50,000. Geology 1969, 1970, 1971.